Lost Republic
by jak3combat
Summary: While we were supposed to be reinforcing a platoon on Felucia, something happened with our experimental ship. Now, we're stuck on an unknown planet with no way of reestablishing contact with the Republic.
1. Crash

**Author's Note: I've come a long way so far with my writing, and I could see how badly the first run through sucked. So, I've taken the liberty of scrapping it and giving the entire story a polish. The structure will be mostly the same, but to where it's better than before, I hope. Same characters as before, simply different interactions and such. And just to point it out, there's Mando'a in this. Like any respectable Star Wars fanfic should have.**

"You sure you're all good on supplies, Master?" Stephan's padawan, Zek, asked for what felt like the fifth time. The kid's heart was in the right place, and he understood why he kept asking. Felucia was not a good place to be, even with a few Jedi and battalions of Clones reinforcing you.

"I'm sure, Zek." Stephan said with a small smile. "You do know we're one of the best damn outfits besides the commandos, don't you?"

"I know, but it just seems as if something's going to go wrong..." He sighed, looking at the experimental LAAT/s we were going to be using. It wasn't just a stealth LAAT, as it also had a hyperdrive installed.

"We're all good in the cockpit!" Sparky called out. "And this is only the second time this baby's using the hyperdrive. Zek, we both know it successfully arrived at Naboo the first time it jumped, so we'll be fine."

"Still..." Zek muttered, walking around the LAAT. Shev'la, the sniper of their little group, grunted as he placed a box of rockets in one of the storage compartments.

"Don't know why Rex is so damn insistant on outfitting himself like a Marine." Shev'la muttered.

"He's an ARC. Don't question it." Sparky shouted as Rex walked over, checking the power pack on the DC-15 he was using for the mission.

"Don't question what?" Rex asked, frowning underneath his helmet.

"Why you're so damn insistant on bringing three crates worth of rockets." Shev'la grunted, putting another crate into the LAAT. In this crate were thermal detonators, and a lot of them.

"Wildlife, Shev'la. Bloody Acklays live there, and one tore apart about fifteen men in a platoon before the rest of them could kill it." Stephan answered for him. "We have ten minutes before we have to go, so hurry up and finish loading the ship."

"Why aren't you helping us, then?" Shev'la asked with a small frown, though it was hidden by his helmet. Almost any other clone wouldn't have the balls to question a Jedi or their superiors, but Stephan was a lot different. He fought alongside the outfit, no matter where they were. The way he treated clones was the way he treated anybody else; like an equal. With any battle group, moral was raised just by the word of him being there, and the fact that his group had almost no casualties to speak of reinforced that.

"I'm waiting on the Quartermaster to see if we get some of the new weapons." He answered with a small grin. As Stephan finished speaking, a normal clone trooper pushed a repulser lift that held five or so crates of weapons, ammunition, and explosives.

"Here's what you needed, sir." The Quartermaster said with a salute. "Three DC-15A's, a scattergun, enough power packs to take out a small army, and various explosives, enough to level half a mountain."

"Thank you Captain Halftrack." Stephan said with a grin. "That'll be all." As Halftrack left, Stephan levitated the crates into two storage compartments and closed them, before cracking his neck.

"That's all, sir?" Sparky asked, sticking his head out of the LAAT.

"Yea, let's find R7 and get out of here." He said, looking around the hanger for the blue and gold astromech droid. "Zek, see if you can find Goldy and C-1AH, will ya?"

"Right away." Zek said, jogging away to find the astromech and protocol droids.

"L33-RP is already inside and deactivated, so we got our medical droid." Shev'la said. Stephan nodded and boarded the gunship, waiting on the two droids to arrive.

"How's the eye doing?" Stephan asked Rex, who sat down on a bunk across from him.

"It's stopped hurting." Rex sighed, lying down on his bunk, staring up at the bottom of the one over him. "Still can't see out of it."

"I've offered to get you a prostetic one, and you know it." Stephan told Rex, who waved him off.

"Even_ if_ it'll help me fight, I don't want anything mechanical in my face." Rex grunted. Stephan sighed and started polishing his lightsaber. Unlike most Jedi, Stephan had trained himself to use a double-bladed lightsaber, and when he made his first real one, he selected two yellow crystals instead of the usual green or blue. Most Jedi who used yellow lightsabers happened to be Temple Protectors, even though he was a normal Jedi Knight.

"Found 'em." Zek called out as R7C1, aka Goldy, boosted itself up into the gunship while C-1AH, aka Fred (don't ask), awkwardly got aboard.

"We're ready to take off!" Shev'la called out as Jet, a Jet Trooper, climbed aboard as well.

"Take care, Master." Zek said to Stephan as the doors started closing. "And may the Force be with you."

"And you as well, my young padawan." Stephan replied before the doors completely shut.

Zek watched as the LAAT/s rose off of the deck with a steady whump before going through the force field keeping the hanger pressurized. He frowned before turning away.

"Something's wrong with the Force..." Zek muttered before walking away, going to find the rest of his outfit.

**[Right before jumping]**

"How's it handling, Sparky?" I asked, holding onto part of the seat the pilot was in.

"She's doing just fine, Shev'la." He answered, pressing a few buttons. "We're jumping in twenty seconds!" He called out to the rest of us, getting several replies. I sat myself down in the seat behind him, not bothering to pull the visor for the weapon systems down, since there wasn't anything to shoot.

Three seconds before jumping, part of the console suddenly sent sparks all over Sparky, who tried shutting it off. He couldn't do it in time, as we jumped.

"Shit!" Rex yelled as something in the back blew up, and my vision went dark.

**[An unknown amount of time later]**

"What the haran happened?!" Shev'la yelled, falling out of his seat once he regained consciousness.

"Haar'chak!" Sparky swore, attempting to wave smoke out of his vision. "The di'kutla console exploded!"

"Can you still pilot us at least moderately safely?" Stephan asked, stepping past me to get closer to the cockpit.

"Yea, but it'll be more of a crash landing, and that's if we're lucky." Sparky replied, straining to see.

"Where the hell are we?" I asked, looking out of the cockpit's canopy at the planet we exited hyperspace from.

"It ain't Felucia, that's for damn sure." Rex said. "Sparky, you got anything on the shushai?"

"Dar." He grunted. "Blew up along with the life support."

"What in the haran hit us?" I muttered, taking a look around the inside, turning on my floodlights to do so.

"I don't know, and that worries me more than the landing will." Sparky sighed. "Landing in under ten minutes, get your shebs prepared."

"Goldy, how're you holding up?" Stephan asked, looking back at the astromech. Several whistles and beeps answered him. "Of course, we're down L33-RP. Wherever we are, we ain't crashing with a medical droid."

"Just great..." Shev'la muttered, checking his DC-15x.

"I can orhaarir for the atmosphere of the planet, but that's about it." Sparky said. "Can't find out how advanced the inhabitants are, only if the air's breathable."

"Do it. We'll worry about getting off this planet later." Stephan said, and Sparky proceeded to press several buttons while I went into the back to check on Fred.

"How's Fred, Goldy?" I asked the astromech while pushing the torso of the protocol droid forward to get at it's back. Several beeps responded while I pried off the back plate to get at the circuits. Everything seemed to be in order, so I put the plate back on before shutting Goldy down. "Sorry buddy, we gotta survive a crash."

"Air's breathable, and from what I can tell, the planet's so far behind in technology we couldn't find the parts to fix the parts that are required to build the parts we need to even remotely fix the LAAT." Sparky said, causing Rex to sigh.

"Osi'kyr!" Rex yelled, punching something.

"The good news is that I found a valley where we can put this thing down in. Bad news is that we may hit a few houses, since there's what looks like a village in it."

"Do your best, I have faith in you." Stephan said, before everyone except Sparky left the cockpit to grab onto something that was a part of the frame. I slipped under a bunk, holding on as hard as I could.

"Hang onto your shebs, we're goin' in hot!" Sparky yelled as we breached the atmosphere. It didn't take very long, only twenty seconds at the most, for us to feel the ship crash into the ground, sending everybody except Sparky (who was strapped down, smart bastard) flying upwards. I only had a few inches to go, slamming into the bottom of the bottom bunk. The impact was hard enough to give me what felt like a concussion, and my vision swam.

"Osik..." Stephan groaned once we stopped, helping me out and onto my feet. "You alright?"

"Think I have a concussion..." I groaned, pulling my bucket off and sinking to my hands and knees.

"Anybody else feel like bantha fodder right now?" Shev'la called out, struggling to get to his feet.

"I second that..." Sparky coughed, weakly punching out the canopy to let the smoke clear out faster. "I hate crash landings."

"Haar'chak!" Rex yelled in pain, clutching at a pipe embedded in his chest. Stephan was on him in an instant, holding him down.

"Don't move, it'll make the wound worse." He ordered, before looking at me. "Find the Bacta and give it to me."

"Right away." I said, pulling the lid off of a crate, revealing twenty mines. I frowned and looked through about ten, getting mostly rations and ammunition, before finding a box full of Bacta.

"I have to pull it out first." Stephan told Rex, who had already slipped into unconsciousness. With a small grunt, Stephan pulled the pipe out and took off Rex's breast plate and took the Bacta vials I had. He ripped off part of his robe, doused it with the live saving liquid, and covered the wound in it. "That'll hold him for now, but we need to get him to a hospital. He has a moderate chance of survival at the moment."

"Time to find out where the haran we are." Shev'la said, stepping past Sparky while holding his rifle out in front of him. He and Sparky left the LAAT, while I followed behind after finding my EMP launcher, leaving Stephan in the wreck to watch over the ARC and the droids.

_"Sir, why don't you act like the other generals?" -Sparky_  
_"One, I actually care about the clones under my command. Two, you all have earned my trust and for that I consider you all equals." -Stephan_


	2. Contact

**Reviews:**

**LexiconHuka: Those corrupt withs.**

**ShiningShadow1965: Something.**

"Should we keep our buckets on?" Sparky asked Shev'la, causing him to shrug.

"It doesn't matter, since you said the air wasn't poisonous to us." He answered. "I'm keeping mine on since it has the best sensors." Sparky muttered something about how pilots were shortchanged as he took his bucket off.

"What should we name this planet?" Jet asked, stepping out of the wrecked gunship.

"Something practical. Like Bob." The sniper answered, grinning a little.

"Planet Bob. Has a nice ring to it." Sparky deadpanned. With a sigh, he walked over to a half buried compartment, flinging somewhat glassed over dirt behind him.

"What're you doing?" Jet asked, leaning against the side of the gunship, watching him.

"Getting my shotgun. I'm not letting some sort of wildlife get a taste of my sheb if I have anything to say about it." He answered while Shev'la looked down his DC-15x's scope at what looked like a settlement on the horizon. Letting it zoom all the way, he watched as several colored blobs started appearing, and slowly getting larger.

"We got company." Shev'la called out, keeping his eye on the blobs. "From the speed they're moving, locals are gonna arrive in roughly two hours."

"Perfect!" Stephan said, startling Jet. "We can ask for their help with Rex."

"Sir, I highly doubt they speak Basic. Or anything we know." Shev'la couldn't help but voice. Without even looking behind him, he could feel the grin he had on his face.

"That's why we brought Fred." He said. "And twenty credits that they do speak Basic."

"You're on." Jet immediately called out.

"Oh my, you weren't exaggerating when you said it was bad..." A new, but completely familiar and mechanical, voice said.

"I did my best; you're lucky the crash didn't send your body all over the compartment." Sparky grunted, kicking the compartment door off and pulling out his shotgun, along with several power packs and detpacks.

"Easy with those!" Jet exclaimed. "You hit them wrong and our shebs are barbequed!" He ripped the detpacks away, muttering about how one of them were going to get him killed sooner or later.

"What're we going to do with the locals, sir?" Shev'la asked, turning to look at him. Stephan thought for a moment while wiping dust off of Fred.

"We play dead." He finally answered. "Sparky, you'll be back in your seat. Jet, inside. Shev'la, get on the ground outside and act like you were attempting to crawl towards the settlement. Buckets on, so they can't tell who we are."

"What'll you be doing, sir?" Sparky asked, putting his shotgun back and putting the compartment door back on as best as possible. He did put a dent in it with his foot, after all.

"I'll be nuhaatyc, watching from behind Rex." Stephan answered. They didn't question on how he was able to trun invisible, since Stephan was a smart Jetii.

"And what will I be doing, sir?" Fred asked, causing Stephan to turn him off.

"Sorry buddy, but your eyes glow in the dark a little." He sighed, before nodding at all of them.

**[Roughly two hours later]**

"Alright Steel Hoof, secure the crash site before the princesses arrive." Commander Red Dawn said, his horn flaring as special tape sprung out of nowhere and circled around the spaceship. Every thirty feet had a pole spring around the ground and the tape wrapped around them a few times before continuing on. Two armored ponies went under the tape once it finished.

"Sir, I found a body, I think!" Private Steel Hoof called out, drawing attention to himself. Lying at his feet was the body of something, one forearm ending in a claw-like appendage that had dirt firmly gripped. Dawn went over and carefully pushed the alien onto its back, noting that it was almost completely white except for red forelegs and four dots on its chest. It's face, or what probably was a helmet, had a spine that was completely red and a T shape eye that went into an upside down v.

"What are you..." Dawn muttered, before looking back at the wreckage. Sitting behind a shattered glass wall, sat another one of the creatures, most likely dead too. Instead of being red and white, this one was yellow and white. The head was almost the same, only lacking the spine.

"Sir, I'm pretty sure these things are wearing armor." Steel told Dawn, noting that there appeared to be a black, unknown fabric under the white and red plating.

"Could be." Dawn muttered. "It could also be flesh, and they're like changelings. Except the black is dried blood. They crashed about three hours ago, remember?"

"I'm being idealistic here, sir. If they're anything like changelings, then we're screwed." Steel retorted, before going around the crashed spaceship once more. "Area's secure and there's no more bodies outside. Shall we go into the ship?"

"I'll go first, wait for my signal." Dawn answered, before stepping past the yellow one. His horn flared and a small ball of light shot up to the ceiling, lighting up the interior. He could see two more bodies, both different colors, and two machines, one resembling the aliens while the other looked like a trashcan with legs sticking out of the side.

"Come in; there's nopony alive in here." He said after a moment, stepping in more to allow the pegasus to gain entry.

"I think that one had a nasty death, sir." Steel said after a moment, pointing a hoof at the blue and white one that wore the closest thing to clothing that they've seen so far. Red blood had dried across the surface of its chest.

"What makes you think that?" Dawn asked, noting that the green one shifted a little.

_'Most likely because its hanging off of that bed. I'm surprised it hasn't fallen off yet.'_ Was what he thought, looking at it for a moment longer.

"No blood around, or on, any of the other bodies." He answered, before nudging a pipe that had blood caked on one end. "It was probably a survivor of the initial crash, as was the red one. The red one took out the pipe and was probably going to get help before subcumming to its wounds, as did this one."

_"That's very observant of you two."_ A third voice said, instantly causing the unicorn and pegasus to go on high alert.

"Who's there?!" Dawn called out, a short sword gripped in his left hoof. Unlike most unicorns, Dawn doesn't use his magic to hold up weapons, instead relying on magic as a completely different weapon, using the elements themselves against his opponents.

_"Me? Why, I'm nobody at all!"_ The voice exclaimed.

_'No_body_?'_ Was what went through both ponies' heads. This meant that they were probably dealing with one of the aliens. After a moment of silence, in which they only heard their own breathing, Steel spoke up.

"There's nopony in here." He said, shaking a little. "We heard that in our _minds_, Commander. Something's screwing with us intentionally, and I don't like it."

"The mission doesn't change, Private. We have to keep the site under our control." Dawn shot back. "If you're scared of the inside, get outside and keep civilians out of here." Steel nodded his head and backed outside, causing Red Dawn to sigh.

"Bloody rookies..." He muttered, looking around more carefully to see if he can find whoever was messing with them. Considering that it took him and Steel two hours to get here, any number of creature could get inside before they showed up.

**[Stephan]**

I held in a chuckle as the four-legged local searched all over the interior of our crashed LAAT for me. All he had to do was touch me and the Force would dispell alway from me, revealing that I was right behind him. The other one, 'Steel Hoof', almost brushed up against me as he left.

_"All I want to know, what is your mission? Beyond securing this crash?"_ I questioned, leaning against the bunk I was in front of.

"Attempt to make contact with the survivors, if there are any." He answered, frowning. "Where are you?!"

_"In the crash. What if there are no survivors?"_

"Collect the bodies and any salvageable technology to advance Equestria." He replied, growling a little.

_"What would you do if we were alive?"_

"Attempt to make peace with them." He answered, before his eyes widened. He noticed that I said 'we' instead of 'they'.

"You can get up, guys." I called out as Jet finally slipped off the bunk. Really, two hours to make himself look dead and you think he'd pick somewhere better than halfway on a bed.

"Shev'la, that's the signal. Don't attack the alien poking at your body." Sparky said as he unbuckled himself. Steel Hoof screamed like a little kid, probably because of the fact that the sniper pushed himself to his feet so quickly.

"Sir, why did you let me do that?" Jet groaned as he got to his feet, ignoring the sword that was cautiously pointed at him.

"Because you're an utreekov, Jet." I answered, letting myself become visible again.

"These guys are very vaar, aren't they?" Rex groaned, sitting up and looking at the Commander, who was looking at him with surprise.

"How're you still alive?" Dawn asked Rex, who chuckled.

"I'm muun to kill." Rex answered. "Besides, the pipe didn't pierce any organs and I've gotten worse wounds before."

"Didn't stop you from passing out." Jet muttered, avoiding the pipe that was thrown at him.

"How long do you have until whoever leads your people get here?" I asked Dawn, who turned to me and looked on in confusion. Guess he didn't expect robes and a cloak, probably thinking I was also in armor. Technically, he wasn't wrong with assuming that, since I also have clone armor on, save my left arm. The helmet was in one of the supply boxes, probably resting with the thermal detonators.

"Ten minutes." He answered as I walked around him, inspecting the armor. It covered his back, some of his torso, part of his neck, and his hindquarters. There was a helmet almost completely covering his head, save for his face and the horn sticking up from his forehead.

"How does he/she expect for two... whatever you are, to completely secure a crash site?" I asked, subtly asking for what his species was.

"We're ponies, more specifically a pegasus (Steel) and a unicorn (me), and_ she_ has faith in our skills as elite guardsponies." He answered evenly.

"So the elite have swords?" Rex scoffed. "What's the highest level of technology you all have?"

"Medical." He answered. "Our doctors and nurses are able to heal shattered bones in less than an hour. Granted, we have to stay off our hooves/wings for a few days, but we would recover a lot faster than twenty years ago."

"That's better than I was expecting..." I muttered. "Alright, well we got somebody who needs a hole in his chest healed up."

"Hey there." Rex grunted, sitting on the bunk that Jet was over. Said jet trooper had gone outside to help the others completely secure the perimeter. I'd have to get my credit chip from him later.

"I know combat first aid well enough to fix a hole in somepony's body, as long as the cause didn't break any bones or severe arteries." Dawn said, looking closely at Rex. "I can't do it with that armor in the way, though. I might mess up and carve a chunk out of you." I could tell by the tone of his voice that he's done it before.

"Sir?" Rex asked, looking at me. I was relying on the Force to tell me if this quadruped had any ill intent, but I detected nothing. I nodded and Rex sighed, before pulling off his breast plate and my torn robe for the pony. Dawn looked at the wound for a moment, before his horn flared up in a bright silver light. Rex's right arm inched towards the DC-17 at his side, but I shook my head, letting him see my left hand on the hilt of my lightsaber.

"Alright, I can fix this. Hold still, since it'll sting a bit." Dawn said. Rex winced, but said nothing as the skin around the wound slowly inched across the red meat, covering it up as if he was never piped in the first place.

"Feels better." Rex said once Dawn was finished, poking at the skin. "Kinda sensitive, but no biggie." He muttered, replacing his armor and standing up.

"I can't replace lost blood, since I didn't train myself in that area." Dawn commented, watching as Rex inspected the DC-15 strapped to the underside of Jet's bunk. "Some kind of crossbow?"

Rex snorted something along the lines of di'kut before answering. "You could say that. Then again, you could call that sword of yours a rock."

Dawn was about to retort when my wrist beeped.

_"Sir, we got incoming aircraft! Looks like the same creatures as this Steel fellow are pulling it, and there's two passengers."_ Shev'la informed me.

"We'll be out there in a second." I said, going over to the two droids and turning them on. "Come along you two, we got leaders to meet." I said to them, before nodding at Rex, who got to his feet and followed me. Dawn sighed a little, before trotting out with us.

_"How does one act around leaders?" Shev'la_  
_"Like a royal ass kisser." Stephan_  
_"So like a subject would?" Sparky_  
_"Pretty much. Just don't go overboard and you'll be fine."_


	3. Walk

**Reviews:**

**LexiconHuka:**  
**Shev'la: What're pickles? Some time of ammunition?**

**ShiningShadow1965: Thanks!**

"General Secura, has General Xerousi reinforced you yet?" Jedi Padawan Zek Darklit asked a hologram of the General, folding his arms across his chest.

"I'm sorry Zek, but there's no sign of your Master." Aayla Secura answered, a frown adorning her face. "Even if he crashed somehow, he wouldn't be reckless enough to not contact me over the comms."

"I knew something like this would happen." Zek said with a grimace. "Thank you General. I hope you're able to keep a foothold on Felucia. It would be a great tragedy to lose you." He said with a small bow that she returned, before turning off the hologram.

"Sir, how is the fighting on Felucia going?" A clone commander, Commander Walker, asked, stepping up next to Zek. Walker wore standard commander armor with grey stripes, and had a DC-15 strapped to his back.

"Badly." Zek grunted. "They're outnumbed five to one and Stephan's gone missing, even though he should've arrived three hours ago."

"Do you think we need to send more reinforcements?" Walker asked, taking off his helmet and putting it onto the holotable.

"We have to." He replied with a sigh. "All we can hope for is that General Secura can hold out until they get there."

"You aren't going?" Walker asked in confusion. Zek shook his head.

"I know that it's going to be a risky move, but finding Stephan is more important right now." He said, looking over a star chart. "I'll probably be able to track the jump co-ordinants, but it will take a whi-"

"Zek, we found out where Stephan ended up!" A clone adorned with normal armor, which indicated he was a trooper, said while pausing only long enough to salute Walker.

"And where would that be?" Zek asked, turning to the clone.

"At first glance the co-ordinants say Felucia, but Slicer looked deeper." He replied. "The last part of the co-ordinants are flipped around."

"That would send the LAAT into the sun." Zek said with a frown. "Except I didn't sense his presense leaving to completely become one with the Force."

"Slicer suspects that there's something called a 'pocket dimention' in Felucia's star." He replied.

"That would explain a lot..." Zek muttered, putting his hand up to his chin.

"Go on, sir." Walker said. "The Viligent can run without you being here."

"Right. Come on, Camo, time to suit up and go rescue Stephan's sorry sheb." Zek said, leaving the room with the trooper in tow.

"You better find him, Zek..." Walker muttered. "I don't want to see what the men's reaction will be if you two die."

With a press of a button, a clone appeared on the holotable.

"Sir!" The captain saluted.

"Ready your men Captain Drake, I'm sending you all to Felucia." Walker said, turning it off and striding out onto the bridge.

Walker spent the next ten minutes staring out into space, until another experimental LAAT/s outfitted with a hyperdrive flew past. That LAAT contained the rest of Renegade Squad, Stephan's handpicked clones. All of them rejects, the Kaminoians would rather have 'recycled' them than let them live, but Stephan convinced them otherwise.

He spent the first five years of their lives training them in their specialties, alongside his seven year old padawan Zek. Their first true test was the Battle of Geonosis, where Renegade Squad suffered zero casualties. Most RC squads suffered 50-75% casualties, to put it in perspective.

"Alright Slicer, we're ready to make the jump to lightspeed." Zek said to the engineer, who grumbled.

"Yea yea..." He muttered. "Put somebody who's barely able to fly this crate in charge of doing something that will make us dead in less than a milisecond if he messes up!"

"I have full faith in your piloting ability, my friend." Zek said, placing a hand on his shoulder. Slicer nodded and pressed the button.

"Jumping in five seconds." He said. "Four, three, two..." At that moment, parts of the cockpit exploded into showers of sparks. Before either of them could do anything, the LAAT made the jump.

**[On planet 'Bob']**

"How corrupt is your ruler?" I asked, standing next to Dawn as we waited.

"Princess Celestia is NOT corrupt." He spat, glaring at me.

"She's a politician, and they're all corrupt on various levels." I answered. "This princess of yours might not look corrupt, but she may have a hidden agenda so deep you'd drown in it." Whatever he was gonna say was interrupted by Rex.

"She's here." Rex said from his seat against part of the wreckage. Normally, he'd be standing up, but blood loss kinda made him woozy. I would've helped him, but I'm rather weak with the Force in that area of expertise. Probably end up doing more harm than good.

"Right." I muttered, cracking my back and shifting my hood a little, so there would be no doubt that this 'Princess Celestia' couldn't see my face. The flying vehicle landed moments later, and a large, white pony with both wings and a horn stepped out of it, her hair flowing in the slight breeze. Her eyes widened slightly at the sight of me and my men, but she quickly smiled and came over.

"Commander Red Dawn, I must commend you on securing the crash." She said with a short bow. "And finding survivors." She looked at me. "Can you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes, all of us can." I answered with a small bow. "I am Jedi Knight Stephan Xerousi. Behind me are four of the men under my care." I looked at them and waved my left hand towards the hybrid. "Come on and introduce yourselves."

"I am ARC trooper Gamma 126." Rex stated, going with the numbers approach.

"Pilot trooper Beta 397." Sparky said, wiping some dirt off of his shotgun.

"Jet trooper Alpha 129." Jet called out from where he was, putting a crate on the ground.

"Marksman trooper Delta 403." Shev'la said, his voice somewhat quiet.

"If you don't mind me asking, what is with the numbers in your names?" Celestia asked, looking over the four of them.

"It's the way we were born, ma'am." Sparky answered. "And I use 'born' lightly, considering that tubes aren't that comforting."

"They're clones." I told her. Celestia looked at them in shock. "All of them brothers, and I treat them as if they're all living beings, so don't think bad of me for being in command of them."

"I understand." She slowly said, and I knew she was lying, if only a little. "Forgive me for asking, but why are you here?"

"We crashed." Sparky explained. "We were to reinforce Jedi Master Aayla Secura, but something went wrong with our hyperdrive. Instead of arriving near Felucia like we were supposed to, we ended up in this system."

"That is rather unfortunate." Celestia said with a frown. "Do you have the supplies to fix your ship?"

"That's a negative." Jet grunted, putting another crate down and looking inside it. "Why did we get all of these thermals?"

"Would any of my little ponies be able to help you?" Celestia asked me. I sighed.

"I'm sorry, but we're stuck here until somebody else happens to stumble across your planet." I said, crossing my arms. "And from what Dawn told me, you don't have the technology to build the technology required to fix the technology that'll fix this LAAT."

"And the distress beacon that's built into the ship's been destroyed." Sparky added. "So we couldn't call for help even if we wanted to."

"I see..." She muttered, before starting to pace a little. I took the opportunity to go back into the LAAT and turn the droids on.

"What happened while I was out?" Fred asked, looking at me. Goldy beeped a few times.

"No, we didn't get into a fight." I told the astromech, before turning to Fred. "We're having a peaceful conversation with the ruler of either this planet or the country. Why don't you two come on outside? We'll probably blow this gunship up anyway."

"Alright. Come along Goldy." Fred said, waddling out behind me. We stepped back out into the sunlight as Celestia left and Shev'la turned to me.

"We got a base of operations in the nearby town of Ponyville." He informed me. "It's a two hour walk, and the repulsor lift's destroyed."

"Figures." I muttered, before looking at the crates. "I'll be able to carry more than my share of these things, but all of you are going to carry one too." They nodded and picked up a crate at random, while I took a deep breath. As I exhaled, I rose my arm and the crates did the same, until they were levitating a good five feet off of the ground.

"How long can you keep that up?" Jet asked.

"Five hours, if I keep my concentration." I answere, subtly telling everyone to not talk to me. The walk to Ponyville was done in relative silence, only interrupted by soft speaking and I'm sure the boys were using their buckets to talk to each other.

"I hope the civilians won't overreact too badly." I heard Dawn say half an hour later.

"As long as we keep the fact that these crates are almost completely filled with weapons, they shouldn't." Shev'la said.

"They're what." Steel deadpanned.

"Hey, we have food in the one Rex is carrying! And I have the medical crate!" Sparky defended, while I rolled my eyes.

"It's not like we're mass murderers, Commander." I said. "We're currently in a war that's spanning the entire galaxy. We only have enough explosives to level half a mountain."

"And that's reassuring how?" He replied, raising his eyebrow.

"You're not afflicted with the CIS." Jet answered. "Before you ask, CIS stands for Confederacy of Independant Systems, a grouping of planets that separated from the Republic."

"Why are you all fighting them, if all they wanted was to split away from your Republic?" Steel asked.

"They started it." Sparky explained as if that went in complete detail about the politics and brutality of the war.

"Does the CIS use clones, too?" Dawn asked.

"Nope. Droids designed for fighting." Rex said. "The tinnies are something like Fred here, but a lot more maneuverable. And capable of weilding a blaster." I could tell that he didn't want to mention that the average Republic citizen thought a clone was just a 'wet' droid.

"What's Fred for, if not for fighting?" Dawn asked.

"I am useful for the translation of over six million languages, including other droids that are less complex." Fred explained.

"What does that mean?"

"Droids that can't preform more than the functions that they were made for." I answered. "Goldy here is more of a complex droid than a moisture collector, for example." A short, but angry beep was sent in my direction. "No offence, Goldy."

"What's a moisture collector?" Steel asked, tilting his head to the side.

"It's a machine used to pull water out of the air on desert planets, such as Tatooine." I explained. "Tatooine's water comes from off world or from moisture farmers."

"Sounds really harsh." Dawn muttered. "What's the best planet you've been to?"

"I'm completely serious here; Voluptas." I stated. Rex let out a chuckle; he knew exactly what I was talking about. "The planet was an entire resort; some of the most beautiful beaches that could be found. That's not what drew the tourists, though. No one is quite sure why, but the culture that developed on the planet is very free spirited and focuses only on the pleasures of life. It's pretty much a planet full of hedonists. Theres nothing but music, games, alcohol, food and sex. It boasts the most beautiful and handsome humans in the galaxy, and they'll have sex with you at the drop of a hat."

The two ponies just stared at me.

"I didn't have sex while I was there; it's not the Jetii way." I added with a grin, walking past them. Force, I love screwing with others sometimes. Probably why I get a lot of missions compared to everyone else; nobody wants me around lest I make their 'fresher explode when they need to use it.

Then Rex had to go and ruin the moment.

"Since you're a Commander..." He adressed Dawn. "How many of your enemies have you killed?"

"Five; the rest were incapacitated and put in the dungeons." He replied automatically. "Why do you ask?"

"Everyone in our unit, aside from Stephan over there and the droids, has a head count of over a thousand, and that's just tinnies. Wets are about two hundred or so."

"Wets?" Steel asked, his voice shaking a little.

"Organics." Rex clarified with a grin that I felt behind his helmet. I tuned out the rest of the conversation once I noticed that the crates had dipped down to about head level with the ponies, and put my full attention back on to levitating them.

_"Why the hell does anybody live here?" Rex, on a deployment to Tatooine._  
_"I think human's settled down here first." Stephan's reply. "We're so damn hard to get rid of we deserve a medal. Hell, I think the original humans' desendants are the Tusken Raiders."_


	4. Crash Number 2

**Reviews:**

**LexiconHuka: Whut? *superbehind on movies and all that shit***

**ShiningShadow1965: Not this chapter!**

"You guys still use wood to build your buildings?" Sparky asked when we arrived in the town, poking a house.

"The capital of Equestria, the land you've crashed in, is built out of stone, mostly marble." Steel said. "Manehatten is mostly bricks." The four clones and I glanced at each other, thoughts the same.

_'Watch where you fire; a single bolt is enough to burn the town down.'_

"What about your homeworld's buildings?" Dawn asked of the clones.

"No actual foundations, considering that Kamino is pretty much all water." Shev'la explained. "The Kaminii have built giant, floating cities made of metal. Doesn't help the constant rain unless you're inside."

"These... 'Kaminii' can't control the weather?" Steel asked, looking shocked.

"Weather's almost impossible to control." Sparky snorted. "I think the only people who've done so successfully are Jetii." Without a word, Dawn's horn flared silver again and a stray cloud came down in a silver aura.

"Private, would you mind jumping onto the cloud?" He asked Steel. The armored pegasus nodded and hopped on, staying on. Defying the laws of everything Sparky stood for. I let out a chuckle before looking around.

"What is it?" Rex asked, being the first to notice my vacant expression.

"Zek." I said with a frown. "I cannot sense his presence anymore. Nor the others in our unit."

"Don't tell me they're dead." Sparky said, ignoring the smirking ponies. I shook my head.

"His presence just disappeared. If he'd have died, I would've sensed him becoming one with the Force." I answered. The four clones sighed in relief.

"What does that mean?" Dawn asked the question nobody else wanted to.

"They have left this universe." I said. "The multi-verse is an ever-expanding place, so there's no telling where they ended up."

"I'm sure he'll be fine." Sparky encouraged. "The kid's got a good head on him, even if he's a bit reckless."

"Zek is a goat?" Steel asked, much to the confusion of everyone except Dawn.

"Zek is a human from Tatooine." I answered. "What's a goat?"

"Think of a white pony with two horns and more agressive." Dawn explained.

"Sounds like banthas..." Rex muttered.

"If I may ask." Fred said after a moment. "How many species inhabit this planet?" I was going to ask the same thing once I put the crates down.

"Twelve major ones at the top of my head." Dawn answered. "Once I get a hoof on a map, I can point them out to you." They use hoof for hand, I figure, and everypony for everybody.

"Do they have a set language, or do they speak the same as we are?" Fred questioned. I knew that we were all wondering how the fierfek these ponies were speaking Galactic Basic.

"They have their own languages, but most can also speak Equestrian." Steel answered.

"What was the comment about changelings you made earlier?" Jet asked, changing the subject. Steel froze for a split second, and Dawn didn't notice. The clones and I did, though.

"We're at war with the changelings, though not in the traditional sense." Dawn explained.

"Technology race?" Sparky guessed.

"Along with them foalnapping (kidnapping) ponies to feed on." Dawn said with a scowl.

"What do you mean, 'feed'?" Sparky asked

"Changelings feed off of emotions." Dawn spat.

"Have you considered negotiations with the changelings?" Shev'la asked, speaking up for the first time in a while.

"If they would stop foalnapping our ponies, I'm sure Princess Celestia or Princess Luna would attempt to make peace." Dawn said, and I didn't need the Force to sense the sarcasm.

We walked the rest of the way in silence, until Dawn stopped in front of a house.

"This house hasn't been occupied for a few months, so it will be perfect for your needs. If you need anything, just ask." Dawn said.

"Where's the rest of the town?" Rex asked as I lowered the crates to the ground.

"Hiding." Steel answered. "The population of Ponyville tent to overreact, especially since things seem to happen every other week."

"Anything else?" Dawn asked. "I don't want to sound rude, but I have a daughter I ned to get back to."

"Just let us keep Private Steel for a while and you can go." I said

"Private, when they dismiss you, you're off duty." Dawn told the pegasus before disappearing with a pop.

"Mind helping us move these crates inside?" Shev'la asked Steel, who sighed and nodded.

**[Zek]**

"Ugh..." I groaned, pushing myself onto my back. A shower of sparks decended upon me, forcing me to shield my face. "Is everyone okay?"

"I'm pretty sure I have a concussion." Slicer groaned from the pilot's seat.

"Armor did what it was supposed to." Blink commented, the commando pushing half a bunk off of him. "I only have a slight headache from the crash."

"You okay, Camo?" I questioned the trooper as I sat up. A grunt from in front of Slicer answered me as he poked his head into the crash.

"I was a little worried there." He answered. "The crash has been secured, but I don't know where we are." That was bad news, as Camo knew a lot about every planet we've been to.

"Fierfek." Blink muttered, tossing the remains of his DC-17 onto the floor. "That was a good blaster, too."

I know a jedi should never do this, but I did anyway.

"Here." I said, tossing him one of my lightsabers. "Better to have you use that than leave you unarmed."

"Sir, you could get kicked out of the Order for doing this." Blink argued. I couldn't help but chuckle as I stood up.

"And we both know Stephan would just hire me indefinitely as a 'civilian contractor'." I replied. BLink just sighed before activating the lightsaber and proceeded to gain a feel for the weapon.

"What's the sitrep, Camo?" Blink asked after a moment.

"Unknown planet and it's the middle of the night." He answered, taking his helmet off. "From the brief observation I made earlier, it's mid-winter. Looks kinda like Hoth, 'sept more trees and there's a small town four clicks southeast of us."

"How deep is the snow?" I asked while lightly thumping the medical droid that came standard with all LAAT ships. Sadly, it was unresponsive, and a quick check showed that most of the circuts were fried.

"Knee deep." Came his reply as he checked Slicer's eyes with a light. "You're lucky; no concussion, just a bruised skull. Had we hit the ground any other time of the year, you would either be sporting a cracked skull or a terminal case of death." Slicer nodded and slipped his bucket back on before looking back at Blink and I.

"There's no way we can fix this thing." I sighed. "What's worse is that I can't sense Stephan or anyone else. None of the Jetii, either."

"We've gone dark, then." Blink sighed, putting my lightsaber onto his utility belt, next to his grenade pouch.

"What do we do?" Slicer asked, collecting his shotgun.

"Grab the emergency beacon, anything we need that we can carry, and blow up the rest." I sighed, running my hands through my hair. "Force, I feel like this is Rhen Var all over again."

"We had more men and Master Windu to help us." Camo pointed out, checking his DC-15. Satisfied, he slung it across his chest and grabbed a crate that he already opened. "Thermal detonators, anyone?"

We spent the next twenty minutes collecting supplies; mainly ration cubes, power packs, recon droids, and explosives. When we walked out into the cold, Slicer was putting a final det-pack into place.

"Since Blink thought it was a good idea to bring five crates worth of mines..." The engineer said, looking at the mines planted onto the hull of the LAAT/s. "I only needed to place three det-packs and a thermal detonator to blow this tub."

"If the townsfolk didn't wake up when we graced the ground, they sure will when you detonate her." Camo commented.

**[Third Person, Zek's group]**

"C'mon, let's meet the locals." Zek said, turning away from the crash. The rest of them reslung or adjusted their packs and weapons before following the Jedi Padawan. After trudging through the snow for half a click, Slicer pressed his thumb down on the detonator's button.

A dull whump sounded out as the sky was lit up like day due to the explosion. As if the sun decided to shrink and hover over the area that used to contain a crashed LAAT.

"Well, we woke 'em up." Slicer said, noting that the town's buildings began to light up. "Hope they aren't kaden with us."

"I don't sense any ill intentions as of yet." Zek said with his eyes closed. "That's what I find strange. There's always a subtle feeling of anger, envy, or hate wherever we go."

"And you don't sense it." Blink finished. None of them know a lot about the Force besides the jedi, but they knew that what he was talking about wasn't good. "How about any Force users?"

"There's way too many to count." Zek grunted, opening his eyes. Splicer let out a small whistle.

"That's a lotta jetii." Slicer commented. Zek shook his head.

"Still too many to be jetii." He said. "One or two of them could be, but there's thousands of them." Under their helmets, the three clones paled. They all knew what a Force user, even a novice one, could do.

**[300 meters outside of unknown town, Blink]**

"What I'd give for a white set of armor right now..." I muttered, zooming in on a creature that was worriedly peeking out of a building's window.

"We can trade; my armor's nice and white." Camo chuckled.

"White and gray, you mean." Zek commented. "What'cha see, Blink?"

"So far, the inhabitants are very colorful, hornless Banthas that're about a meter tall." I answered, looking towards the others.

"So we're on one of those planets." Slicer muttered, kicking at the snow.

"Quadrupeds with the ability to harness the Force..." Zek mused, before nodding. "Explains the buildings, because they wouldn't be able to build otherwise."

"What do we do, sir?" I asked Zek, slipping into 'operation mode' as the jetii in question called it.

"If it weren't for the fact of being mid-winter, I'd suggest setting up camp for the night." He said, pacing a little. His brown robes stood out against the snow almost equally when compared to my blue and gold commando armor.

"We going into the village?" Slicer questioned.

"We have no choice." Zek replied. "Our only other shelter used to be four clicked behind us. Now the only trace of its existance is a crater that's probably still smoking, due to the amount of explosives you put on the LAAT."

"Shame..." Slicer muttered, possibly wanting a crater that was still on fire. "So, we go forward?"

"Unless you guys want to be a target for a very unlikely sniper, of course." Zek said, already trudging forward. Since Slicer had salvaged his shotgun, he took point.

"Of all the times my armor stands out, why does it have to be now?" Slicer mumbled, rolling his shoulders.

"At least you have white on your armor." I told him over our bucket's comlink channel. "I'm freakin' blue and gold over here!"

**[Zek]**

"It's quiet." I muttered, unhooking my lightsaber from my utility belt. I avoided activating it for now, rather keeping my thumb near the button that allows blue plasma to spring forth in a special containment field. "I'm just glad Stephan convinced me to learn Shien alongside Jar'Kai, in cases like this."

"Still, compared to you, I'm a Giant Space Slug when I'm with your weapon. I'd rather take a blaster any day." Blink commented, probably frowning under his helmet as he looked over my other lightsaber.

"Locals are probably scared of us." Camo said as we heard a window slam shut up ahead. After a second of thought, I looked at Blink.

"Didn't you tweak your armor to contain a wrist tracy'uur and flamethrower?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Fierfek, I forgot about them." He muttered, pausing for a moment. "Both are fully charged and operational. You can take your lightsaber back."

"Keep it for now." I dismissed. "I know that they'll take some time to reload, so it's a good idea to have a fallback weapon."

"Alright." Blink said, rehooking it to his utility belt.

"Contact!" Slicer hissed, all four of us immediately dropping into as low of a crouch as we could.

"How many?" Camo quietly asked as Blink muttered about he couldn't sit in his armor.

"Five, wearing dark armor and holding spears in teleknetic fields." Slicer reported, looking back at me. I knew what he was gonna ask before his mouth opened (not that I could see it).

"Do not engage unless attacked first." I said, shifting a little. "We can't stay hidden, what with my cloak and Blink's armor, so let's go say hi." I knew it was a risky move, but we had no other options.

I bet they couldn't even understand Galactic Basic.

_"What do we do if we meet a new alien species?" Zek to Stephan_  
_"_Don't_ insult them, we wouldn't know the first thing about their customs." Stephan's reply_


End file.
